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Life Skills
#LifeSkillsNow was created to serve the needs of families who desire their kids to have practical life skills that schools aren’t teaching. We host experts in fields ranging from entrepreneurship to finances, cooking, and soft skills like managing emotions and choosing a healthy mindset.
Episode 98: Having Clear Intentions About Things, Memories, Relationships with Diane Boden
When your podcast guest says, “Our goal as parents is to raise up these self-sufficient, independent people someday,” you know she’s in the right place! Diane Boden and I talk all about her journey to minimalism and the intentional mindset she’s fostered over the last 14 years. It’s not just about the “stuff” but about...
The “Unteachable” Life Skills Our Kids Need Most (and How We Can Help)
As a parent, I’m often asked: “How do you teach life skills like cooking, cleaning, or budgeting?” I love answering that question (because that’s literally my jam!). It’s hard enough for parents to get over their psychological roadblocks and slowwwww down enough to teach tangible skills. It’s even harder to figure out how to pass...
Teaching Life Skills: The Best Hack I’ve Used (and What Other Smart Parents Swear By)
When I think about teaching life skills to my kids, I always come back to one core truth: it’s not just about checking a skill off a list. It’s about raising humans who can think, adapt, and stand on their own two feet. That’s why when I find a “hack” that actually works to make...
Episode 66: Why Teaching Your Kids Chores and Life Skills Is NOT Taking Advantage of Them
In today’s Healthy Parenting Handbook episode, I’m going to take 5 different arguments against kids doing chores and learning life skills and counter them with facts, stories, research, and a big ol’ dose of common sense. These are real arguments I hear from both well-meaning parents AND keyboard warriors on social media, plus one from...
Episode 61: How Kids Can Learn to Deal with Big Challenges and Big Emotions with Counselor and Coping Skills Expert Janine Halloran
We will ALL encounter tough situations and hard times in our lives. We will ALL cope with them in some way. But sometimes coping looks like throwing a chair or eat a whole box of cookies. Licensed Mental Health Counselor Janine Halloran joins us today to talk about the kind of coping that is safe...
Episode 57: Higher Level Thinking for Kids and How That Improves Independence and Life Skills with Author Noel Foy
Did you know the pre-frontal cortex where executive functioning lives doesn’t fully develop until our early 30s??? I still struggle with some executive functioning skills like time management and following a plan, but if I learned anything from this interview, it’s that we ALL can continue to grow, change, and improve. You are not married...
Episode 029: The Importance of Life Skills in a Digital Age
What life skills are kids and teens going to need in this fast-paced digital world??? We can’t really predict what specific skills our kids will need in 20 years, BUT we know they’ll need to know how to learn and other “soft skills.” Enjoy meeting a handful of our #LifeSkillsNow summer camp leaders as we...
Top 10 Life Skills to Teach Your Kids Before They Turn 18
When I was a kid, I never once said, “I want to be a digital entrepreneur when I grow up.” I never had “be a TEDx speaker” on my bucket list (did bucket lists exist in the 80s??). I always and only wanted to be a teacher. Luckily, my parents passed on skills like a...
Episode 025: Tapping into Creativity and Why Woodworking Helps Kids Learn Real Life Skills with Anika Gandhi
I interview a LOT of different people in a myriad of professions, but I’ve never come close to having a woodworker on the show before! “What would we talk about – how to build things? That won’t go well on a podcast in someone’s ear…” I thought. Do not worry my friends, because Anika and...
196: Middle School Superpowers (And Vital Soft Skills for the Rest of Us) with Counselor Phyllis Fagell
You know when we have a repeat guest here on the Healthy Parenting Connector, they’re really good! As soon as I finished this interview, I bought Phyllis Fagell’s new book called Middle School Superpowers, and it’s in my stack! In our first interview, we talked about why middle school kids are built a bit differently...